What is aspirin? I believe many people are not unfamiliar with it. It is often used for cold and cough, headache and fever, but it can also be used to prevent cardiovascular disease, prevent Alzheimer’s disease, anti-aging, and enhance immunity. It is called the “medicine of the century”, is the “all-purpose king” in the medicine circle, is also the “cornerstone” of the prevention of cardiovascular disease. In recent years, it is also considered to be the best cancer prevention health product that God has given to mankind, and some foreign experts even put forward the saying “an apple a day, an aspirin”. Is it true that aspirin can prevent cancer and improve prognosis? In recent years, many studies have shown that long-term aspirin use can prevent cancer and improve prognosis. Here are some authoritative evidence: 1. As early as 1995, a study on aspirin and cancer risk in women was reported in the New England Journal. From 1984 to 1992, in 551,651 follow-up visits, women who consistently took aspirin tablets twice or more per week significantly reduced their risk of colorectal cancer (RR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.36-0.90, P= 0.008) after 20 years of continuous aspirin use compared with the no-aspirin group; for short periods of use (5-10 years), the effect was not significant. years), the effect was not significant. 2. A randomized controlled study of the effect of daily aspirin on the risk of cancer metastasis was published in The Lancet in 2012. 17,285 participants in the trial were followed for a mean of 6.5 years, and 987 had new solid cancers. Daily aspirin (≥75 mg per day) reduced the risk of distant cancer metastasis (HR for all cancers: 0.64; HR for adenocarcinoma: 0.54; HR for other solid cancers: 0.82). Aspirin reduced the risk of metastasis in adenocarcinoma at initial diagnosis (HR: 0.69) and in patients without metastasis after starting follow-up (HR: 0.45), especially in patients with colorectal cancer (HR: 0.26), and in patients who remained on trial treatment after or after diagnosis (HR: 0.31). The team also did another study showing that daily aspirin use significantly reduced cancer mortality (OR: 0.79)-taking aspirin for 20 years significantly reduced gastrointestinal cancer mortality (HR:0.65). 3, A study on the effect of long-term aspirin use on overall cancer risk was published in the 2016 JAMA Oncology journal. Two large prospective US cohort studies, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, with 88,084 women and 47,881 men, were selected for follow-up up to 32 years, with 20,414 women and 7,571 men developing cancer. Compared with informal use, routine aspirin use slightly reduced overall cancer risk (RR: 0.97) and significantly reduced the incidence of gastrointestinal cancers (RR: 0.85), particularly colorectal cancers (RR: 0.81). The minimum duration of routine use associated with lower risk was 6 years. Among people aged 50 years or older, routine aspirin use prevented 33 colorectal cancers per 100,000 person-years compared with no endoscopic screening (PAR, 17.0%) and 18 colorectal cancers per 100,000 person-years compared with the group that had undergone endoscopic screening (PAR, 8.5%). However, routine aspirin use was not associated with risk of breast cancer, advanced prostate cancer, or lung cancer. 4, In 2017 Breast Cancer Research published a study on conventional and low-dose aspirin, other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and the expected risk of breast cancer, the results showed that taking NSAID group reduced the risk of breast cancer (HRR: 0.84), and in women with hormone receptor-positive/ HER2-negative subtype The HRR was more pronounced (HRR = 0.80). The use of three or more “other” NSAID tablets was associated with a lower risk of breast cancer (HRR = 0.79). The use of three or more low-dose aspirin tablets per week has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer. A number of other studies have confirmed that long-term aspirin use reduces the risk of prostate, pancreatic, skin, and lung cancers to varying degrees. Of course, some studies have also shown that the effect of aspirin on cancer prevention is minimal or meaningless, and the mechanism of how aspirin reduces cancer is not yet clear. Therefore, in recent years, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended for the first time that adults between the ages of 50 and 69 take a low-dose aspirin daily to prevent cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer, which is a double whammy. This has brought aspirin to the forefront of cancer prevention. Preventive use is not for everyone As the saying goes, aspirin is a miracle drug, but it still has many side effects. Whether it is used for first-line prevention of cardiovascular diseases or for experimental use in cancer, it is important to know the side effects, contraindications and precautions of aspirin to avoid the tragedy of “picking up sesame seeds and losing the watermelon”. Side effects mapping (refer to the drug instructions): 1, the more common are nausea, vomiting, upper abdominal discomfort or pain and other gastrointestinal reactions. 2, less common or rare are: ① gastrointestinal bleeding or ulcers, manifested as bloody or tarry stools, severe pain in the stomach or vomiting bloody or coffee-like material, mostly in patients taking high doses, age and risk are positively correlated; ② bronchospastic allergic reactions, manifested as dyspnea or asthma; ③ skin allergic reactions, manifested as rash, urticaria, itchy skin, etc.; ④ hematuria, salicylic acid reaction and liver damage. These people should be used with caution: 1, people with a history of gastric and duodenal ulcers; 2, people with coagulation disorders, such as severe liver damage, hemophilia, thrombocytopenia, hypoprothrombinemia, etc.; 3, people with asthma, nasal polyp syndrome, allergy to aspirin and other antipyretic and analgesic drugs are prohibited; 4, pregnant and lactating women are prohibited; 5, people under 50 years of age (except for patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk factors) and 70 years of age The risk of bleeding increases with age. Precautions: 1. Small dose days (75-150 mg) are recommended for prophylactic use; 2. Take in the morning, 30 minutes after meals, avoid taking on an empty stomach; 3. Choose enteric tablets as much as possible to reduce the stimulation of the gastrointestinal tract; 4. Those who are positive for H. pylori should first eradicate H. pylori and take gastric mucosal protectants at the same time. Avoid taking drugs that increase stomach acid at the same time; 5, patients taking aspirin, three regular meals, avoid eating irritating food, quit smoking and limit alcohol, and stay up less; 6, develop the habit of observing the stool, if you find that the stool color is black, or recently appeared heartburn and other symptoms, go to the hospital as soon as possible. How to look at the cancer prevention foods and drugs in the gossip? With the popularization of tumor-related knowledge, people often hear that what can cause cancer and what can prevent cancer, including official and folk remedies; they also hear that some things are cancer-preventing if eaten well, but cancer-causing if not eaten well. The public feels confused. It is believed that 100 people will be asked 100 different kinds of cancer prevention and cancer-causing claims at random. How credible is this information? Tumor formation factors are complex, and there are indeed exact cancer-causing food and drugs, but not as many as in the rumor, plus, cancer-causing factors also need time to accumulate for a long time before they may cause cancer. As for cancer prevention food and drug, at one time sweet potatoes and garlic prevent cancer, at another time broccoli and carrots prevent cancer; at another time reishi prevents cancer, at another time metformin prevents cancer, and now aspirin prevents cancer. Many of them are only certain foods that may have certain cancer-preventing ingredients, and even some of them have been confirmed to have certain cancer-preventing effects in animal experimental studies, but there is no exact scientific basis for whether they also have cancer-preventing effects on humans. Some of them are only statistically analyzed through epidemiology that certain food and drugs are beneficial to reduce the incidence of cancer and improve the prognosis of treatment, but the mechanism of action is mostly unclear and the analysis of pros and cons is not perfect, so blind application is not reliable. Scientific speculation will eventually be revealed under the controversy and the test of time. Aspirin is an “old drug” that has benefited mankind for hundreds of years, reasonable and standardized use, to avoid harm, as for the popularization of cancer prevention and treatment, it is too early, it still needs further verification and research, maybe one day stand out as a “new drug” to prevent and treat cancer. We will see what happens.